MORSE: ORTHOPTERA OF NEW ENGLAND. 285 
similar one on the under side is the penultimate ventral segment, 
the ultimate showing only as two triangular plates at the sides 
and behind it. The pygidium is a chitinous plate between the 
bases of the prongs of the forceps, extending downward and 
sometimes forward; rarely, it is fused with the anal plate {Labi- 
dura riparia). Attached to its lower (posterior) end is another, 
the metapygidium., which is followed by the telson or supra-anal 
plate. These three plates are termed opisthomeres and their 
relative development is a character used in classification. The 
hinder ones are often greatly reduced in size and visible only with 
difficulty in dried specimens. Sometimes the last dorsal segment 
is prolonged backward to form a squamopygidium whose hind 
margin is termed the anal process (Apachyus, Dendroiketes) . 
The most useful characters for distinguishing species are found 
in the forceps of the male; indeed, without male specimens the 
identification of closely allied Earwigs is impossible. The form 
of the pygidium and that of the last visible abdominal segments 
perhaps come next in importance; and the characters presented 
by the tarsi, the proximal segments of the antennae, and the 
tegmina and wings are much used. 
Earwigs are usually secretive during the day, hiding in niches 
and crannies or under any objects on the ground offering shelter; 
in the afternoon and evening they become more active, the winged 
species occasionally flying about freely and sometimes appearing 
about lights in numbers. 
This habit of entering crevices for shelter, combined with their 
elongate form and crawling, sinuous movements, is very likely 
responsible in part for their popular name, which is based on the 
notion that they enter the ears of sleeping persons, an idea which 
apparently lacks confirmatory facts but which is widely prevalent 
in Europe and appears in the colloquial name in other languages 
as well as ours: — Ohr-Wurm in German, perce-oreille in French. 
The food of Earwigs has generally been stated to be vegetable 
in character, but some species are undoubtedly carnivorous and 
predatory and probably many will be found, when studied, to be 
omnivorous. The European Earwig has been reported as some- 
times doing considerable damage to the young foliage of hops, 
clover, etc., and the blossoms of phlox, dahlias, and roses. Others 
feed largely on living insects, preferably soft-bodied species, and 
